


Damian "Meets" Tim

by dysphoriccanada



Series: Crowded Caves, Family Faves [6]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Batfamily Feels, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Not beta'd we die like men, Reverse Robins, Robin reversal, batfam, but not yet, damian is a mess tbh, damian wayne has issues, helena stayed home so she didn't have to deal w this shit tbfh, i plan on resolving or at least helping, jon/dami/colin is probably gonna happen btw but everyone is a mess rn, not... yet, reverse au, terry is tired, why is everyone i write a queer disaster
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-13
Updated: 2018-09-13
Packaged: 2019-07-11 20:56:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15980357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dysphoriccanada/pseuds/dysphoriccanada
Summary: Well.... Meeting is a strong word. More like Damian wakes up from a two day sleep and suddenly there's a very underfed child training with batman.Someone call Colin and Jon





	Damian "Meets" Tim

**Author's Note:**

> its a mess

Damian, though a fair older brother, was still clueless at almost eighteen. Harper had begun shutting herself away from him some days, and Cullen had begun asking odd questions about friends and boys. More specifically, Damian’s friends that were boys.

He questioned Cullen about it, once, not to belittle him but to understand. It didn’t come across that way though, he supposed.

\---

“Damian?” Cullen, little thirteen year old Cullen, approaches Damian where he sits on his bed. Damian sets down his book, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, Cullen?” The boy, taking it as an invitation, comes into Damian’s room and sits with him on the bed. Damian sighs. “What is it?”

“Um… Do you know, maybe, if or when your friends are coming over this weekend?” Cullen wouldn’t meet Damian’s eyes, alerting the teen that his brother was… Nervous? 

“Why would you need to know?” Damian questions. Cullen blushes.

“I dunno.” He mutters. “Your friends are… cool.” Damian furrows his brow.

“You think.. My friends are cool?”

“Yeah…”

“I see.” Damian says awkwardly. Cullen picks at the blanket. “Is there… anything else?”

“Do you think I’ll ever be as tall as Jon?” Cullen breaths. Damian, not expecting it, blanches. 

“Sorry, what?”

“It’s just,” Cullen rushes to explain. “He’s so.. Tall. And he’s big, and funny, and always smiles really big if you say something really smart.” Damian shifts.

“I suppose. Do you usually make observations like this with my.. Friends?” Cullen shrugs. “What about.. Colin?”

“Colin has fun hair.” Cullen says. “And he’s got like.. Thousands of freckles. He’s not big like Jon, but he’s still strong, ya know? He once picked me up and ran around the living room with me. So cool. And his hat, it’s so… it’s just him. No one else could wear his hat and look cool.” Damian narrows his eyes.

“Do you have any comments about… Maps?” Maps, being Mia Mizoguchi’s nickname, had come to the manor once or twice, for studying. Cullen looked at him weird.

“I dunno. Her shirts are pretty neat.” 

“I see.”

“Mhmm.”

They sit in silence.

“Cullen… by any chance, and it’s okay to tell me. Are you-?”

“No.” Cullen snaps, uncharacteristically. “I’m not.” Damian raises his hands.

“I was just asking.”

“I think I’m gonna go find Harp.” Cullen stands up. Damian blinks.

“Oh. Okay. Jon might be coming over next week-.”

“Whatever.” Cullen mumbled before slamming the door.

\---

Damian groaned, remembering that day. Harper still hadn’t forgiven him. In his defense, how was Damian to know that the only thing Cullen was ever bullied for was for being..

He shook his head. He couldn’t think about that right now.

“~Shadoooow.” Blue Bird groans in the comm. “~Answer me you ass. Do you have eyes or not?” Shadow startles, looking back into the warehouse.

“I have eyes. Hostage is inside. Riddler is in seperate room.”

"~Thank you.”

“I’m going in.” Shadow mumbled.

“~What? Shadow! Wait for Batman and I!” Blue Bird hisses into the comm. Shadow ignores her. He has a chance, and this little girl needs to be saved. He became impatient, half an hour ago. Batman took too long.

“Get on the south side of the building. Riddler is closer to you that way. I’m grabbing the girl and going.”

“~Shadow!”

Shadow drops down wordlessly to the street. He shoots his hook, climbing the side of the building, four floors, until he’s three windows away from the girl. No doubt her window is boobytrapped, he’ll have to silently fight his way to her room.

The window, thankfully, is unlocked, so it’s easy to slide it open and drop inside. In the room, is one armed guard, his back facing the hero. Shadow smirks behind his half mask, swiftly and silently moving up behind the guard. He hits a pressure point in the man’s neck that he knows will disable him, but not seriously damage him. On the drop down, Shadow catches him, gently placing him on the floor. The last thing he needs is to alert any other guards, or God forbid Riddler, before they can save this girl.

She’s a foster child, with no real family. It’s being demanded that they either give up $100,000, or..

Shadow shakes his head. No time to think about it. Riddler won’t kill her. At most he’ll just psychologically damage her terribly and destroy all trust she has in her foster family.

In Gotham, which would be worse?

“~Shadow, I’m in the building. I’m making my way to Riddler. Batman is pissed, and on his way here.”

“Blue Bird I really don’t care. I just want the girl out of here.” Shadow mumbles back. He hears Blue Bird sigh into her mic.

“~You’re so grounded.”

Shadow ignores her, turning another hallway. When he does, there’s two guards in front of a single door.

Found her.

Now he just had to get her out-

\---

Damian groans when he wakes up, grabbing the side of his neck and wincing. He turns, seeing Terry sitting in a chair next to his cot.

“Terrence?” Damian mumbles, confused. Terry wakes with a start, facing his brother.

“Dames!” He gasps. “You’re up!” Damian squints.

“How long?” He questions him. Terry sighs checking his phone.

“Two full days almost.”

“The girl?” 

“Safe.” Terry smiles. Damian nods.

“Good.”

Silence for a moment. Terry stares at his brother, anxiety obvious in his face. Damian growls.

“What, Terrence?” 

“It’s dad, he-.”

“What’s wrong with father?” Terry is silent. “Did something happen, is he okay? Tell me!” Damian snaps. He lurches upwards, but Terry holds him down by the shoulders.

“He’s fine, physically. I swear it on Helena’s life.” Terry assures him. “He’s just… you were down for two days, little shadow. He was… not great.”

Damian waits while Terry scrambles for words.

“There’s this kid okay-”

“He replaced me? In two days?” Damian glares. Terry shakes his head.

“No. He showed up at the manor. Told Bruce he knew everything. Evidence and all. Bruce didn’t know what to do so-”

“So he took in another little stray.” Damian says in a cold voice. 

“Don’t say that.” Terry snaps. “I know you’re angry, but if Harper and Cullen ever heard you say that-.”

“I know.” Damian says. “I’m sorry. I’m angry.”

Terry sighs. “Do you want to meet him?” Damian thinks for a moment.

“Fine.”

\---

The boy’s name is Timothy Drake, Terry informed him. He lives down the road, and as soon as he noticed that Shadow didn’t patrol on his regular night, that he went missing after the Riddler incident, he had gathered all his evidence and rushed to the manor. Bruce had let him in, let him explain everything. And instead of being angry, instead of denying everything and making the boy leave, Bruce had taken the boy down to the Batcave and called up Terry to begin training.

Damian? Furious. First of all, how dare his father be so hypocritical as to let a complete stranger, a fifteen year old stranger, train with his brother, his mentor, after he had fought tooth and nail for months just to able to fathom the idea of training Harper, his own ward. Second of all, how dare he do any of it without first consulting Damian. Without waiting for him to wake up, waiting to see if he was safe.

And third of all. How dare he do this to a child, he doesn’t know. It’s one thing when Bruce Wayne puts on the cowl and goes running with his family. It’s a another to pull it on and demand the same from a stranger, who is also still a child.

Damian Wayne-Kyle-al Ghul may just be the angriest he’s ever felt in his lifetime. When Damian is cleared by Alfred, the first thing he does is rush his way up stairs to the living room, where he’s been told the children are. He ignores his family who try and stop him, rushing to get there as soon as he can.

He swings the door open, to see Harper and Tim happily watching Cullen try to beat a boss in some video game. Harper notices him first.

“Damian!” She gasps, jumping up to run over and hug him. He hugs her back briefly, not taking his eyes off Tim.

“Cullen, why don’t you go find mother and tell her I’m back. I’m sure she’d love to be with all of us.” Damian spoke smoothly. Cullen, sensing the tension radiating off the older boy, nodded quickly and dashed out.

“I assume you’re the Drake boy?” Damian asks coldly. Tim nods.

“Nice to meet you Damian. I’m sorry this is so short notice I-.” Tim tries to speak, but Damian interrupts him.

“I really don’t care.” He says. “What I care about is the safety of my siblings. How long have you been, for lack of a better word, stalking us.” Harper hits Damian’s arm.

“Damian, Bruce already went through all this. Timmy is cleared. You need to chill.” Damian turns on her and glares.

“I will not chill, Harper.” Damian growls. “There is a complete stranger in our home, claiming that he needs to be Batman’s new partner, simply because I’ve been resting for a little over 48 hours. I cannot chill, considering the red hot anger I’m currently fighting down.” Harper backs away.

“Well you don’t have to so fucking rude about it.” She says lowly. “Tim stepped up because he was worried. Shadow has never been gone more than a day after being hurt. Maybe he could have waited to see if there would be a third day, but his intentions were good.”

“His intentions are fueling my father’s hypocritical nonsense.” Damian hisses. He takes a breath, then spins on his heel.

“Where are you going?” Harper groans. Damian doesn’t stop walking away.

“I have to make a call.” He snaps.

\---

Colin pick up within a few rings.

“~Dames? Are you okay, what’s up? Terry told me you're on bedrest.”

“I was on bedrest yes, now I’m on my way to your apartment.” Damian snaps into the phone, placing it on speaker and packing a bag. 

“~Woah, Damian, what? I only just got this place dude, I don’t even really have a couch-”

“Colin do you doubt me? Do you doubt my power in this city and the money I have? Fuck it, I’m buying us an apartment and it will be furnished in a week, if you feel bad about the money you can get a job and just pay for things for me every now and then, we are basically adults who have graduated early and deserve t-”

“~DAMIAN!” Colin yells into the phone. Damian drops his sketchbook. “~Please, tell me what’s going on before I make Jon go pick your ass up!” Damian takes the call of speaker phone, and allows himself to get emotional.

“If I’m being completely honest Colin, I think I might need someone to come get me.” He mumbles. Colin is quiet on the other end.

“~I’m texting Jon. He’s going to fly to you, and I’m going to drive and meet you both at the manor. We’re gonna drive back to my place, and then binge watch South Park, because fuck you it’s the greatest show ever. Okay?”

“Okay.” Damian answers. Colin goes quiet again.

“~Damian. You don’t have to explain everything right now. But at some point you really gotta talk to us, okay?”

“Okay.”

“~Okay.”

“I will see you when you get here.” Damian mumbled into the phone.

“~See you then.”

A minute more of packing passes before the soft sound of feet on his terrace has Damian turning around. Jon Kent, stands there, hands in his pocket and a smile on his face.

“Air Kent, at your service.” He jokes. Damian scoffs.

“Took you long enough.” Damian says, turning back to his packing. Jon sighs, and walks over to help. “You don’t have to do that. I’m quite capable of-.”

“Damian, for the love of Rao just let me do this for you.” Jon interrupts him. Damian turns his head, staring into the more than stressed eyes of his best friend. Even at seventeen, Damian knows he’ll never be as tall as the other. He resents this, but made peace with it long ago.

“Okay.”

They continue packing.

\--

When Damian is more than packed for a weeks away, he and Jon sit on the terrace, looking out over the grounds. Their feet dangle off the side.

“When do you think Col will get here?” Jon speaks up. Damian shrugs.

“Depends on traffic. I don’t know why he wouldn’t just ask you to fly me to his apartment. He didn’t need to drive.” Jon fixes him a look.

“Damian. You’re one of the most… extravagant people I know. I think he’s just enabling you to be able to walk through the manor with all your shit before leaving with the two guys your dad and older brother don’t really approve of.” He says. Damian scoffs.

“My father likes you two just fine-.”

“As team members, sure.” Jon shrugs. “But as best friends that you’d risk your life for, in and out of costume? And your brother seeing us as potential suitors if it ever came to it? They kind of hate us dude.”

“Don’t 'dude' me, and we are not having that discussion again.” Damian flops onto his back, exasperated. Jon lays down beside him.

“Are you gonna try and explain why you’re leaving?”

“..I don’t quite know yet.”

“Want me to say anything.”

“..Up to you I suppose.”

“..Want me to punch your dad?”

“Jonathan!” Damian exclaims, while Jon laughs.

“C’mon. I can hear Colin’s car coming.” Jon stands, reaching a hand down to help Damian up. He takes it, and they move to grab his things. When they leave the bedroom, Alfred the cat and Titus stare at him, warily. 

“Stay.” Damian tells them. “I’ll be back in the morning to grab you. Stay with Cullen until then.” The dog and cat blink, as if completely understanding their masters orders. Jon laughs lightly, leading his friend out of the room. They walk down the stairs, carrying a duffel bag each. Alfred catches them at the bottom.

“Master Damian, Master Jonathan. Are you quite sure this is the right move?” The old butler asks the teens. The seventeen year old and the nineteen year old share a look, and then nod at him. Alfred sighs, then moves to let them pass. 

In the hallway, the children have come out to greet Jon (having heard his name from inside the living room). They stare at Damian, confused and upset looks in their eyes.

“You’re.. Leaving?” Harper asks, crestfallen. Damian adjusts his his bag.

“I’m in need of a break. Almost time I moved out anyway.” He says in a cold voice, eyes darting to Tim. The boy shrinks back, looking at the floor. Cullen doesn’t say anything, just steps behind his sister and doesn’t meet Damian’s eyes. 

“Damian, Jon, what are you doing?” Bruce sighs, noticing the commotion. Damian glares at his father.

“I’m going with Jon. To Colin's.” He answers. Bruce fixes him a look.

“Is that right?”

“Yes.”

The two stare each other down for a moment, before Selina intervenes.

“Still coming to the gala this weekend kitten?” She asks lightly. “Your friends are more than welcome.” Damian clenches his jaw.

“We’ll see.” He stalks past all of them, to the entrance way, Jon following after.

Outside, Colin is leaning against his car, waiting for them. Without so much as a ‘hello’ to his best friend, Damian drops into the back seat, bag in his lap. Jon and Colin share a look, before moving to sit in the passenger and drivers seat.

Not even the radio makes sound as they drive away from the only place Damian has ever called home.

\---

Shadow doesn’t patrol that night, but even if Damian had wanted to his friend’s wouldn’t have let him. The teen had argued this, obviously, before breaking down and admitting defeat. They still didn’t quite know the reason for his departure from the manor, but they did know that they needed to be there for their friend.

Colin was letting Damian stay in the second bedroom. He didn’t know for how long, but he made it clear that Damian could stay for as long as he needed, and that Jon was welcome to stay as well. Jon agreed to stay for the night, and told his friends he was going to call in sick the next day.

“My job can wait until I’m confident that my best friend is okay.” He’d told them.

Currently, the three were sat in Colin’s living room, sitting on bean bag chairs and watching South Park as promised off of Damian’s laptop.

“Hey D?” Colin asked quietly.

“Yes?” 

“Are you.. Are you okay?”

Damian was quiet for a moment. Then:

“I think if we’d pause this, I’d like to explain the situation.” His friends were happy to comply, closing the laptop and turning to him.

It didn’t take long for Damian to explain. He started with how Harper and Cullen had grown distant from him, admitting that he was clueless as to what to do with his younger siblings. And then how recently Batman had been fighting him more and more about putting Blue Bird into dangerous situations with little to no backup, even if she was fully capable. He moved on to the events that transpired three days previous, about the little girl who was abducted, about how he went in virtually blind too quick, and someone jumped him. How he was down for two days, how he woke up only to find his father was endangering the life of an untrained, unknown boy, too small and too short for his age.

“I swear, he looked like he should have been thirteen, not fifteen.” Damian says in the end. “He’s too… we don’t know any of his abilities other than he’s quiet, and he could probably fake his death rather well.” 

“Sounds like you’re really worried about him.” Colin says softly. Damian fixed him a look of outrage.

“Worried, doesn’t even begin to describe it!” He yells. “This child is putting his life on the line for something we train to do for years! I’ve no idea what his skill sets are, I’ve no idea if he could even survive training! I fought for nearly half a year for father to even think about Harper becoming Blue Bird, but this boy comes waltzing into the picture because I’m being drugged to sleep instead of being on patrol, and suddenly it’s ‘Well, Batman needs a partner, and I’m prepared for that to be anyone so long as they’re going to train and recognize the dangers’? It’s bullshit! He’s a hypocritical bastard, and all of them must be idiots to fall for it!” Damian takes a deep breath. “I just.. I can’t even look at any of them right now. I’ll just shut down again.”

“Okay dude,” Colin nods. “I understand. You can stay here as long as you need. Shit move in if you want.” Damian seems to consider this.

“Do know, that if I were to ever live with either of you permanently, it would be in a three bedroom, two bathroom, penthouse, and I would have it furnished within the week.” Damian mutters. “And we’d need to have a spare bedroom. And a large living room. Fuck it, I’d just buy us a loft where the top half is a penthouse. The whole top two floors maybe, we'd manage.” His friend’s laugh.

“And how would we pay for this, Damian?” Jon asks his friend. “Farm boy/aspiring photographer remember? Not a lot of pay.”

“And I’m the son of a billionaire with a trust fund that could buy out half this building, please.” Damian rolled his eyes. “I even told Colin earlier. I’d pay for everything in the first month, cover the bills for the first half of the year to get us settled, and from there we can worry about you two pitching in, if you’re so worried.” Colin and Jon share a look, seeming to consider something.

“Give it a week.” Colin says. Damian raises an eyebrow. “Then we’ll talk about living together again."

\---

Back at the manor, Bruce sits in the cave with his children and Tim. Selina and Alfred had put Cullen to bed an hour earlier.

“I’m sorry if I messed everything up for you and Damian.” Tim says softly. “I didn’t mean to.”

“You didn’t mess anything up, Tim.” Bruce sighs. “This was me. Damian is very.. Territorial.” Terry scoffs.

“Seriously dad?” He deadpans. “You’re blaming it on that?” 

“Well what do you think it is, Terrence, seeing as apparently you apparently know my son better than me.” Terry rolls his eyes.

“I don’t know him better than you, you over dramatic furry, I just know that my little shadow isn’t as angry about this as you probably think. If he is, it’s definitely at you old man.”

“Me?” Bruce questions. “Explain.”

“He wakes up after being indisposed for two days, the last thing he did before that was fight with you. The last person he’d talked to was his little sister who he’d basically taken on like Helena and I took him on, and then he wakes up only for her to be upstairs playing video games. No one had even told her he was up.” Terry says. “And then, to really punch him in the gut, he finds that in the two days he’s been down, you’ve taken in another kid, without so much as a wink, without his consultation, without taking into account that he fought so hard for Blue Bird to fly, for months, and in one night you’ve taken someone in. Someone he doesn't understand, someone he doesn't trust, and someone he doesn't know how to protect.” He shrugs. “On top of that, Damian already has a lot of emotional issues that you continue to not take into account. I won’t be surprised if he stays low for a while.”

Bruce looks over Tim and Harper.

“Tim.” Bruce says. Tim looks at him hopefully. “What has been said is true. On every side. But most of all, Batman needs a partner. Blue Bird is about ready to fly her own and take care of her own patrols. Batman will still always be ready to help, but she can manage on her own. Shadow obviously will be on his own, most likely with his team. And Nightwing and Flamebird are needed in Bludhaven.”

“Does this mean…?” Bruce offers the boy a small smile.

“Tim, would you be willing to continue to train and prepare to be the next partner for Batman?” Tim and Harper beam.

“Yeah!”

“Okay.”

Terry shakes his head.

**Author's Note:**

> just wait..... more mess is coming lmao
> 
> (check out my tumblr shitthebatfamprobablysaid i post abt reverse au there)


End file.
